They don’t sail high seas or fly pirate flags, but today’s cybercriminals are just as disruptive — especially when it’s your computer that’s being held ransom
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W
hen employees of a well-known Israeli public relations firm turned on their computers one recent morning they were shocked to discover that they couldn’t access any of their files. All of the valuable documents stored in their computers — some of which contained information about the largest companies in the Israeli economy — were frozen. The hysteria in the office already high mounted even further when someone noted a chilling message at the bottom of the company’s main welcome screen: All files will be locked out until a ransom is paid in bitcoins (an international virtual currency). The ransomers were demandingNIS50 000 or about $13 250.
With no easy solution in sight the public relations firm capitulated and transferred the full sum. In return all the files were released and work returned to “normal.”
This particular firm isn’t the only one that’s been targeted. FromIsraeltoAmericatoAustralia thieves are using ransomware to extort millions of dollars from companies and individuals. And the worst news of all: There’s no obvious solution in sight.
It may sound like the opening of a suspense novel but this story actually happened to an Israeli woman named Tova: “It all began when I opened a regular file attached to an e-mail that arrived in my inbox” she relates. “I opened it without thinking too much and the virus appeared on my screen. It caused all the files in my computer to be encoded — e-mails documents Excel PDF and other files — and a window popped up demanding that I pay a ransom of $500 to release them.
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